imago at the Fantastická Ostrava festival

In just a few days, the sixth annual Fantastická Ostrava festival will take place at Trojhalí Karolina in Ostrava. imago has been connected to this festival from the very beginning – we’ve always been there with a sales booth, and we will be this year too! Over time, we added workshops – miniature painting and Conquest gaming, which we’ll be hosting again this year.

After all, it’s a unique project in our hometown. That’s why we’ve watched the growth of the Fantastická Ostrava project with enthusiasm and were happy to see it become one of the largest events of its kind in the Czech Republic over the years. And it did so essentially without media support or big sponsors.

This year, imago decided to become a proud partner of Fantastická Ostrava, and we will have our own imago stage in the smaller hall. In addition to the technical setup of the stage (we have plenty of experience thanks to organizing the Paseka music festival), we will also be contributing to the program.

What will the program on the imago stage look like?

imago grew up on gamebooks and RPGs. It was only logical that our program would head in that direction. So, what can you look forward to?

The Skoro Hrdinové group will present a new expansion for the Invisible Book world, Záhady města Kalus. This extensive book has just arrived from the printer and offers a unique world full of equally unique activities.

Renowned Hungarian author Gábor Lux will talk to RPG fans about how to create a proper adventure and the pitfalls of such design.

The crew from the popular Tam a zase zpátky podcast will also arrive, so you can look forward to a talk about Tolkien.

Then it’s time for gamebooks – our tame author Eva Lassler has invited other gamebook authors for a joint discussion. Guests include Jiří Zahradníček, Jiří Mikulík, Filip Hruška, Tomáš Hanzlíček, Zdeněk Karel, and Dana Bláhová.

The Sunday program will conclude with a unique project involving a bunch of creative people around the Sukuba Ensemble group, who will perform the Call of Cthulhu gamebook live. It will be a performance on the border of a musical show, theater, and an interactive experience.

Besides that, imago will have a booth on-site where you can meet the guests, get your book signed, and buy something to make yourself happy.

The Fantastická Ostrava festival itself will take place on June 28th and 29th, 2025 at Trojhalí Karolina and will offer two halls full of fun for sci-fi, fantasy, and cosplay fans and their entire families.

What exactly awaits you?

Cat Conspiracy in Kalus

Saturday 11:30-12:30

The Skoro hrdinové group will present themselves at Fantastická Ostrava with a live RPG oneshot session. The plot takes viewers and players to the city of Kalus, where members of the Protectorate Guard are contacted by a talking cat during a seemingly quiet night shift. Its message is alarming: Snowball, the granddaughter of the cat elder Morfolomňauv, has disappeared. The situation is all the more serious because she was supposed to meet Claw, an influential cat from the Upper Town, and a scandal of unprecedented proportions is looming. The search for Snowball will lead players into the dark corners of the city, on the trail of dangerous smugglers of addictive catnip, and force them to unravel a web of feline intrigues where nothing is as it seems at first glance. Will the newly minted law enforcers manage to find Snowball in time and reveal who is really pulling the strings in the Kalus underworld?

Freedom and Choice in RPG Leadership and Adventure Design

Saturday 13:30-14:30

Gábor Lux, moderator Jiří „Markus“ Petrů

How to run sandboxes and open campaigns? The author of dozens of acclaimed RPG adventures presents practical techniques that support freedom of choice, meaningful decisions, and non-linearity in adventure gaming. From designing open scenarios full of possibilities to the importance of chance, to simple principles that encourage players to take imaginative action and risks. The lecture is in English and will be interpreted into Czech.

J. R. R. Tolkien – The Story of the Writer Who Breathed Life into Middle-earth

Saturday 17:30-18:30

Libor Pokorný, Anička Matuszková, Vašek Pecháček, Lukáš Grygar

A gifted linguist, university professor, writer, husband, and father. All this and much more was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the man who created the world of The Lord of the Rings, a world that generations of devoted fans have been lovingly exploring. What was his life like, where did he grow up, what did he experience? What events shaped him, and what was the story behind the publication of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings? Come and enjoy the whole story of J. R. R. Tolkien presented by Nerdopolis and the podcasts Toulky s Tolkienem and Tam a zase zpátky. You can look forward to a performance that will be much more than just a dry retelling of well-known facts from the life of the man who breathed life into Middle-earth.

Gamebooks: Interactive Stories in the Digital Age

Sunday 14:00-15:00

Are you interested in the world of interactive stories where the reader chooses what happens next? Come to a discussion with gamebook authors, moderated by Eva "Ronne" Lassler – a writer, artist, and enthusiastic creator of gamebooks like Druhá Země or Hrdinové Domoviny: Dáma z Agor-Nhat from the Dračí Hlídka world. Together with other authors, she will talk about why gamebooks are making a comeback, how the digital age affects them, and what you can experience with this genre. You can look forward to a friendly discussion full of stories, ideas, and maybe even a few secret gaming tips!

Brnění – "Call of Cthulhu" Gamebook Live

Sunday 16:00-17:00

Still don't know who to vote for? Vote for Cthulhu!

In the first part of the series of the same name, the narrator embodies the academic Francis Thurston, who is struck by news of his great-uncle's mysterious death and an unexpected inheritance. The year is 1926, and in the middle of a harsh winter, we set out to solve the mystery.

While narrator Michal describes the events written in the book with live musical accompaniment by Karel, Kuba (Sukuba Ensemble), and Václav, the audience will be the driving force of this dark adventure. The decisions of where to go, what to do, and how to behave in the face of deep-sea horrors will depend on their voting. Come discover the truth or lose your sanity in the adventure by Leandro Pinto – Call of Cthulhu.

Michal Vojkůvka - narrator

Kuba Špiřík - cittern, flutes, others

Karel Vaněk - violin, others

Václav Skoták - bass guitar

Pavel Skoták - projections

author Pavla Žižková